This represents a very solid outing which will please listeners who enjoy the veteran warped popster's meditative screechings. As is usually the case with Waits, there are some very finely crafted songs on offer, most memorably the title song, with its beautiful jumblings of absurdist metaphors, and closer "New Year's Eve", where a cast of characters brought in from a land somewhere between Lou Reed and Bruce Springsteen waits around waiting for something to happen. As is usually the case, failed romance is another lyrical preoccupation (e.g., "Back in the crowd"). The strident peace song "Hell broke luce" is not for everybody, but is doubtless innovative. Unfortunately, there are too many uninteresting songs (e.g., "Kiss Me" and opener "Chicago") for this to qualify as a masterpiece. ( )